Moving to Costa Rica to Retire

I moved to Costa Rica over three years ago from San Diego, California at the age of 54 to retire and live well.

I grew up in a navy family and in my adult life I’ve lived and traveled in other countries from time to time So, it was a relatively easy decision to move in Costa Rica and settle down to a new lifestyle.

The Decision to Start A New Lifestyle

The last several years before I moved had been stressful.  In October of 2002, my wife had committed suicide.  In 2003, I had a small hernia repaired and was then laid off from a high-paying, but very stressful director’s position at the large and historic Hotel del Coronado.

Several months before that my mother had a massive stroke and heart attack.  I took her under my care in my home until she died of dementia at the end of 2004.

In the middle of 2004 I took a bad fall on a slippery outside staircase and tore three ligaments off of my right shoulder.  My only child, a 30 year old son, a doctoral student at UC Santa Barbara was no longer dependent on me financially.

I met with financial advisors to see how long my savings would last me while living in the U.S.  The advisors estimated that if I invested my money wisely and worked for another five years before retiring, I would run out of money around the age of 74 with only social security benefits for income.

Having worked so hard for many years and experiencing so much death, I decided that I wanted to discover a better life.  So, I set off to explore parts of Europe, Peru, Belize, Mexico and the U.S. looking for a place where I would feel comfortable and safe.

I took a “Learning Annex” seminar on buying real estate in Costa Rica, liked what I heard and decided to go and check it out.  I booked a four week intensive Spanish course in a small community in the Central Valley of Costa Rica then traveled around for another two weeks with the instructor who taught the real estate seminar.

Chosing Costa Rica as my New Home

Despite struggling to become fluent in Spanish, I decided Costa Rica was the place for me to retire.  I returned to San Diego and sold my home.  A few months later I flew back to Costa Rica to find an apartment, a lawyer, buy a car, secure medical and car insurance, open a bank account and other matters.  I returned to San Diego and had several garage sales to ‘lighten my load’ and then shipped what I didn’t sell or give away in half a container.

Within the first year I got married, received permanent residency status without restrictions to work and found a magnificent property above the city of Grecia in the west Central Valley.

Building My Dream Home

For sixteen years I had carried around a sketch of a dream home I wanted to build.  I couldn’t afford to build it in the States, but I could and did in Costa Rica at 40% of the cost.  I’m sitting in that dream home as I write, Villa Luces que Flotan or House of Lights that Float, high on the slopes of Volcan Poas overlooking the Central Valley.

Learn how Gene has handled serious medical challenges both in the States and in Costa Rica.

- Gene Warneke is a photo-journalist and a Traveling4Health.com contributor. View photo albums documenting the construction, from the ground-up, of his home in Costa Rica.  View samples of his photography in Costa Rica on Youtube.